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Father with baby (symbol photo): 43 percent of fathers receive parental allowance
Photo: Tanya Yatsenko / ´Westend61 / IMAGO
Despite parental allowance, the division of parental care time is making only slow progress.
Only every tenth father takes more than two months parental leave.
This is shown by a study by the Federal Institute for Population Research (BIB) for the period from 2009 to 2019.
According to the analysis, mothers still do most of the childcare.
“Beyond the child's first months of life, there has been little further progress in the division of family work since the introduction of parental allowance,” said Mathias Huebener, a research associate at the BIB.
Parental allowance was introduced 15 years ago.
It amounts to around 67 percent of the prenatal income, a minimum of 300 euros and a maximum of 1800 euros per month and is paid to the caring parent for up to twelve months after the birth of the child.
Improved compatibility of child and career
Parents receive two additional months of parental allowance if both parents receive parental allowance for at least two months.
Since mid-2015, with the introduction of ElterngeldPlus, it has also been possible to draw half the amount over twice the duration.
As an »income replacement benefit« after the birth of a child, it was intended to create a safe space for young families and enable more women to work and share childcare between partners.
Since then, the compatibility of family and work has improved in many respects, according to the BiB study.
But it also shows that not all successes have an effect beyond the parental leave of mothers and fathers.
According to the study, the parental allowance increased the labor force participation of mothers of children under the age of three from 43 to 56 percent.
The proportion of fathers who receive parental allowance also increased to 43 percent.
"A noticeable success," says one of the authors of the study, Sophia Schmitz.
Despite increased employment participation, mothers sometimes experience career disadvantages after parental leave.
Participation in the labor market "does not necessarily lead to success in the labor market," according to the study.
This is evidenced by the loss of professional prestige that women experience after parental leave.
On the other hand, fathers – even after longer periods of parental leave – tend to show increases in professional prestige.
Another result of the study: Most fathers are on parental leave at the same time as their partners, and sole responsibility for childcare is still rare.
Even if fathers who receive parental allowance for more than two months contribute a little more in the long term, mothers continue to do most of the childcare and housework.
“Fathers hardly ever assume sole responsibility for childcare,” is the conclusion.
According to the study, the fact that more traditional gender roles persist could also be due to the fact that other family policy measures, such as spouse splitting, are still opposed to the goals of parental allowance.
bbr/AFP/dpa
